“It is the night of the Fourth [of July] and I am working the same as usual,” complained Rush McCargar, a 25-year-old American employed by the Oriental Consolidated Mining Company (OCMC) in northern Korea in 1900. “The engineers, machinists, carpenters, miners, and office force had the day off, but we who are unfortunate enough to be mill men have to work just the same.” But it wasn’t work that irritated him the most; it was a toothache that kept him awake throughout the night. The tooth had been bothering him since December, and though he tried all the home remedies available to him at the mine, none had brought relief. He had even contemplated pulling it out himself, but the nearest forceps were more than 20 miles (32 kilometers) away. There was nothing he could do but try to “grin and bear it.” Fortunately for McCargar, at the end of July, an American dentist from Nagasaki paid a temporary visit to the mines and offered his services to the miners, for a price. It was readily accepted, and when he left he was much richer for the experience. In a letter to his family, McC